Carex mendocinensis

Olney ex W. Boott in S. Watson

in S. Watson, Bot. California 2: 249. 1880.

Common names: Mendocino sedge
IllustratedEndemic
Basionym: Carex cinnamomea Olney 1868
Synonyms: Carex debiliformis Mackenzie
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 23. Treatment on page 471. Mentioned on page 463, 468, 472.

Plants densely cespitose. Culms dark maroon at base; flowering-stems 25–80 cm, much longer than leaves at maturity, 1–1.8 mm thick, glabrous but scabrous on angles, especially within inflorescence. Leaves: basal sheaths maroon, bladeless, glabrous on back; others grading from maroon to green on back, brown-hyaline and usually red dotted on front, glabrous or often pubescent near apex; blades flat, 2.5–5.5 mm wide, usually less than 4 mm wide, glabrous or sparingly rough-hispidulous on 1 or both surfaces, margins scabrous, especially distally. Inflorescences: peduncles of proximal spikes 0–65 mm and finely scabrous; peduncle of terminal spike 0–12 mm, scabrous; proximal bracts equaling or exceeding inflorescences; sheaths 8–40 mm; blades 1–4 mm wide. Lateral spikes 3–5, 1 per node, well separated, erect or arching at maturity, pistillate with 20–45 perigynia attached 0.5–2 mm apart, rarely the distal staminate, linear to narrowly cylindric, 10–60 × 2.5–6 mm. Terminal spike staminate, rarely with a few perigynia, sessile or pedunculate, 18–38 × 1.2–4 mm. Pistillate scales with green midrib and broad pale hyaline margins suffused with reddish or golden brown, broadly ovate, shorter than mature perigynia, apex acute to rounded, sometimes cuspidate, margins ciliate distally, otherwise glabrous. Perigynia green to golden green, usually blotched or dotted with dark red, 2-ribbed and finely 12–15-veined, veins more obvious on abaxial side, loosely enveloping achene, oblong-lanceolate, 2.7–5 × 0.8–1.8 mm, membranous, base acute, apex tapering to beak, sparsely pubescent toward apex; beak minutely bidentate, 0.3–1 mm, ciliate between apical teeth. Achenes sessile, 1.6–2.5 × 0.9–1.5 mm. 2n = 56, 58, 60.


Phenology: Fruiting late spring–summer.
Habitat: Seepage areas, wet meadows, coastal prairies, springy slopes, mixed evergreen forest, associated with serpentine soils near the Pacific Coast
Elevation: 100–1600 m

Discussion

Occasional sterile hybrids between Carex mendocinensis and C. gynodynama are found where the species grow together. Specimens from the northern part of the range tend to have pubescent leaf sheaths and perigynia that taper more gradually to the beak.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"shortened" is not a number."thick" is not a number.

... more about "Carex mendocinensis"
60 +, 58 +  and 56 +
0.16 cm1.6 mm <br />0.0016 m <br /> (0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br />) +
trigonous +
0.9mm;1.5mm +
tapering;acute;rounded +
Marcia J. Waterway +
Olney ex W. Boott in S. Watson +
Carex cinnamomea +
bidentate +
0.03 cm0.3 mm <br />3.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
rough-hispidulous +  and glabrous +
m--shaped +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
glumaceous +  and foliaceous +
2-ranked +  and arranged +
ascending +  and appressed +
scale-like +  and leaflike +
parallel +  and divergent +
terete +, rolled +  and plicate +
Mendocino sedge +
dark maroon +
round +  and trigonous +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (6 cm60 mm <br />0.06 m <br />) +
0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br /> (0.6 cm6 mm <br />0.006 m <br />) +
Calif. +  and Oreg. +
100–1600 m +
open +, pistillate +  and staminate +
hypogynous +  and subtending +
25 cm250 mm <br />0.25 m <br /> (80 cm800 mm <br />0.8 m <br />) +
biconvex +  and trigonous +
Seepage areas, wet meadows, coastal prairies, springy slopes, mixed evergreen forest, associated with serpentine soils near the Pacific Coast +
apart +  and separated +
arching +  and erect +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
multi-ranked +, 2-ranked +, 3-ranked +  and alternate +
basal +  and cauline +
, +, suffused with reddish or suffused with golden brown +  and pale hyaline +
entire +  and bidentate +
red dotted +, brown-hyaline +, maroon +  and green +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (1.2 cm12 mm <br />0.012 m <br />) +
with (1-)3-6(-30) bristles and/or scales +
green +  and golden green usually blotched or dotted with dark red +
ascending +  and erect +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
Fruiting late spring–summer. +
2-3(-4)-carpellate +
, +, suffused with maroon or suffused with chestnut-brown +, white +  and hyaline +
3 (?) +  and 1 (?) +
exceeding inflorescences +  and equaling +
in S. Watson, Bot. California +
adventitious +
basal +  and proximal +
2-keeled +
cylindric +
0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br /> (4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br />) +
Illustrated +  and Endemic +
1 +  and 3 +
septate +, hollow +  and solid +
compressed +, terete +  and trigonous +
papillate +
deciduous +
2-3(-4)-fid +
Carex debiliformis +
Carex mendocinensis +
Carex sect. Hymenochlaenae +
species +
pedunculate +, sessile +  and staminate +
androgynous +  and gynecandrous +
0.12 cm1.2 mm <br />0.0012 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
0.27 cm2.7 mm <br />0.0027 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
oblong-lanceolate +
membranous +
0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br /> (?) +  and 0.18 cm1.8 mm <br />0.0018 m <br /> (?) +
plant +  and cespitose +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
not septate-nodulose +